Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Sells 21,034 Shares of Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC reduced its position in shares of Navient Co. (NASDAQ:NAVI – Get Rating) by 65.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,104 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 21,034 shares during the quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC’s holdings in Navient were worth $164,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NAVI. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Navient during the 1st quarter worth about $236,000. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Navient during the 1st quarter worth about $382,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Navient by 36.6% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 180,855 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,082,000 after purchasing an additional 48,483 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its holdings in Navient by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 56,439 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $962,000 after purchasing an additional 3,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in Navient by 22.9% during the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 2,641,958 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $45,019,000 after purchasing an additional 491,644 shares during the last quarter. 70.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Navient news, EVP Stephen M. Hauber sold 11,351 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.17, for a total transaction of $217,598.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 217,081 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,161,442.77. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Stephen M. Hauber sold 11,351 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.17, for a total transaction of $217,598.67. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 217,081 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,161,442.77. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP John M. Kane sold 17,006 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.56, for a total value of $281,619.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 607,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,056,937.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 22.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NAVI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price target on Navient from $15.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. Barclays upped their price target on Navient from $16.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Navient from $14.50 to $17.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 10th. StockNews.com cut Navient from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Navient from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.40.

Navient Price Performance

Shares of NAVI opened at $17.69 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 20.50, a quick ratio of 11.42 and a current ratio of 11.42. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.32. Navient Co. has a 52-week low of $12.45 and a 52-week high of $19.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.28 billion, a PE ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.53.

Navient (NASDAQ:NAVI – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The credit services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by ($0.06). Navient had a return on equity of 16.40% and a net margin of 16.80%. The firm had revenue of $232.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $253.74 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Navient Co. will post 3.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Navient Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.16 per share. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 2nd. Navient’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.48%.

About Navient

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Navient Corp. engages in the provision of asset management and business processing solutions for education, healthcare and government clients at the federal, state and local levels. It operates through the following segments: Federal Education Loans, Consumer Lending, Business Processing and Other. The Federal Education Loans segment owns FFELP Loans and performs servicing and asset recovery services on FFELP Loan portfolio.